My belief is we should focus on
similarities, such as the human condition, rather than differences. The human
race is more important than perpetuating stereotypes. Nevertheless, differences
create personality.

As fantasy writers, we are lucky we can
centre features other than skin colour, which has the ability to offend, and
focus on other fascinating things about people. You could also make sentient or
sapiens races, in the form of robots, animals, ghosts - anything you like.

It cleverly combines solving an unsolvable
mathematical problem called ‘squaring the circle’, while using human dimensions
showing the link between squares and circles.

Using his dimensions helps plan sizes of
your humanlike beings. This is because average humans follow these rules. It is
likely aliens will do the same. If your aliens are 180 cm tall, their feet will
likely be 30 cm. It also helps planning, and drawing character pictures.

I refer to the arm as ‘Top-Arm’.
Medically, arm refers to the top arm only, with lower arms referred to as
forearms. A palm is four finger widths. A cubit is a forearm and hand length
combined.

There are hundreds of thousands of animal
species. Far too many to consider them all, so focus on few. I suggest making
alien types.

Be wary of your alien species being so
similar to earth creatures, that it was pointless making fantasy versions. You
can also use tropes such as unicorns, phoenixes and more.

Decide which animals of your created
animals are wild and tame. Taming uses are for work or pets.

The animal kingdom splits into two
categories. The categories define whether species have backbones, the vertebrae.

· Vertebrates -
Fish, Amphibian, Reptile, Bird, Mammal

· Invertebrates -
Insect, Mollusc, Crustacean, Coral

On larger worlds, creatures will be
smaller than Earths, due to an increased gravitational pull crushing them. They
can still grow massive, but will be close to the ground, and are likely to have
exoskeletons, like millipedes.

Like most Earth species, alien creatures
are likely to be tetrapods, having four legs, or arms, and a head, as
extremities. They are also likely to show bilateral symmetry, with right and
left sides externally mirroring each other.

Predators also need to be twice the size
of prey. Being bigger means you are likely to be faster, have more energy to
chase, and be stronger to dominate. Small predators can work in packs to tackle
larger animals.

If your atmosphere isn’t dense, you may
not be able to have flying creatures. Flight is only possible in thick air.

BOTANY

I suggest less is more when creating
fantasy botany. Only focus on what characters use. Uses can be for food,
clothing, building, art, anything.

Like animals, there are hundreds of
thousands of plants, again, too many to consider mentioning all of Earth’s.

The main sub-types of plant are mosses,
ferns, algae, grasses and conifers. Fungi and fungus are organisms not included
within plant types, but are worth considering.

DISEASE

A good story theme, and way to destroy
characters lives, is giving them diseases. Send heavenly plagues.

Virus and diseases are devastating to
humans, plant or animal population. Plants, animals and humans all suffer from
disease, so consider making viruses for each.

There are thousands of diseases. This
lists a small portion of them. Each has its own symptoms. Research them, or
create your own fantasy illnesses.

Meat production needs to be four fifths of
the human population. This is because meat animals are larger than birds. They
can be cows, pigs, horses, camels, sheep, goats or any large meat animal. The
animal market depends on the livestock is available.